Autumn 2015 - All along the Danube

Golden Colors - wonderful trips along the Danube

From October to mid of November I was constantly travelling, always trips of 5 to 10 days, a few days at home and immediately back shooting the wonderfull autumn 2015 in central europe. This time I will split my blog in two parts. This part will cover my destination at the river Danube, the next will be about South Tyrol.

Regensburg, Weltenburg, Walhalla and the Ruhmeshalle

Lets start with two very bavarian destinations the Ruhmeshalle also called Befreiungshalle (liberation hall) and the Walhalla, both commisioned by the bavarian king Ludwig I in the 19th century. This is not the place to dive into the Bavarian and German history, this is the place to show some of the work I did in both places. Indoors these places are a real pleasure to shoot (no tripods allowed...) and they offer lots of great angles and options to compose interesting pictures.

A short summary of both places.

Walhalla is buildt high above the danube with a magnificent view over the bavarian lowlands. Ludwig the Firsts idea was to establish a place to commemorate the great men/womans of german speaking origin. Kings, reformers, artists, composers all have their busts in the Walhalla. The Liberation Hall is honering the liberation from the French occupation during the Napoleonic wars. All major battles have their plaque in this building.

Scaffolding prevented me to make pictures of the liberation hall from the outside.

Walhalla

Befreiungshalle - Liberation Hall

Regensburg

UNESCO world heritage site, university town, busy port, full of life and very pretty, thats Regensburg. And unfortunately full of scaffolding and construction cranes. Some of the iconic buidlings are completely hidden and the skyline is dominated by cranes and this will not change for the next years. First I was a bit shocked, but somehow I had to adjust my shooting. To be honest it may have been even an advantage as it forced me to think different. Have a look!

Weltenburg and the Danube Gorge

Weltenburg Abbey right on the entrance to the Danube Gorge of Weltenburg are little gems not only known to locals. Weltenburg is famous for its church (no photography allowed..), its beach, its beer and its beer garden - typical bavarian! The gorge is busy with climbers, excursion ships and hikers. I was there three times for different light and weather conditions. This place changes incredible from serenity to noisy beach life in a couple of hours.

I included some pictures from the next local town Kehlheim. High above Kehlheim you find the Liberation Hall right at the exit of the Danube Gorge.

Grape Harvest in the Wachau

A few hundred km downstream of Regensburg another UNESCO world heritage site is located along the Danube, the Wachau. The Wachau is famous for its scenery and for the white wine growing on the steep slopes of the valley of the Danube. With the help of the local tourist office and managed to arrange to shoot the grape harvest around Spitz for several days. Many thanks to the Lagler family and all the people harvesting the grapes, who endured my camera clicking....

The foilage of the vineyards was gorgeous, however most of the days have been hazy, sometimes even foggy. Therefore my plan to shoot more landscape did not work out very well. All the same the results are quite nice. I tried to shoot symbolic and atmospheric shots of the work in the vineyards. It was all done during real work, no posing, no special arrangements! I hope you will like it!

As I mentioned, it often was hazy and during the morning hours photography was completely useless! I was lucky enough to get some good hours per day and it really was worth to wait for clearer skies as the golden color was incredible. I did not oversaturate in post processing! Wachau in autumn is highly recommended!

Stay tuned and have fun!

Munich, November 2015